


Soldier Keep On Marchin'

by trenchcoatboy



Series: Soulmates and Rewrites [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29408538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trenchcoatboy/pseuds/trenchcoatboy
Summary: Name taken from a Fleurie song :)Also I'm SO SORRY I've left this series so long
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: Soulmates and Rewrites [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/974112
Kudos: 1





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Name taken from a Fleurie song :)
> 
> Also I'm SO SORRY I've left this series so long

Even after he gets through with the holy water and everything else, he still can't quite believe his eyes. This doesn't happen to them. To him. He doesn't get people back. Everyone always leaves, and he's lucky when it's just him they're leaving and not life itself. He wasn't lucky with Sam. That was the end of it. And yet here his brother is, standing in front of him, looking at Dean like he's the one who doesn't fit in this picture.

"Dean. It's me."

He's surprised his voice works to ask,

"How'd you get out?"

"I don't know. Where's Cas?"

That's not a question he can do right now.

"You don't know."

"Dude, I just got out of Hell. Aren't you at least happy to see me?"

He finally snaps out of it enough to give Sam a hug and it seems a little more real and he lets himself think for a second that they might actually have gotten a win here. Sammy seems a bit reassured but it doesn't stop him from asking,

"What happened, Dean?"

Like hell is he talking about that.

"You're asking ME what happened? You just took a trip downstairs with fucking Lucifer himself and now you're standing here like it's a normal fucking Tuesday. You seriously don't know anything more than what you told me?"

Sam looks at him helplessly. Dean decides not to press it any further. The kid's obviously as confused as he is and he's here and he's real and Dean sure as hell isn't going to say that's not the way it should be. So he lets Sammy inside the motel room and they talk over a couple of beers. Sam asks about the time he's been gone. Dean tells him how long, and he knows he doesn't have to say how bad. He never mentions Cas.


	2. Chapter 2

Things are normal for the next few weeks, or as normal as they can be under the circumstances. They go back to Bobby’s and try to figure out what brought Sam back, taking the odd case once in a while. Dean could almost pretend things were fine if it weren’t for the knowing and pitying looks he keeps getting from Bobby combined with the concerned and confused ones from Sam. He hears them talking one night when they don’t realize he’s back from a beer run.

“What happened to him, Bobby? Where’s Cas?”

He hears Bobby’s tired sigh.

“You know as well as I do Dean’s about as likely to sing opera as to actually talk about somethin’ like this, but near as I can tell Cas treatin’ him like a vacation home in between month-long stays upstairs and eventually your brother told him to get lost for good.”

It’s quiet for a few beats before Sam speaks up in that tired and serious voice he has.

“How long?”

“Coupla months, maybe more. Hadn’t seen ‘im in four months before he showed up with you.”

He hears Sam’s weary breath escaping him and figures this little honesty get together has gone on long enough and walks noisily into the kitchen. Both of their heads swivel to look at him, wearing similar faces of guilt and concern.

“Somethin’ on my face?”

Sam gives a truly impressive eyeroll and Bobby mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "idjit" under his breath. He leaves them to their worry. He's fine. It's better this way. He keeps telling himself this through case after case until Cas shows up to fuck around Dean's just standing there, drowning in unasked questions.

Why did you come back?

Why are you torturing a fucking kid?

Why couldn't you stay?

And then Cas turns around and gives them the details just like he never left.

"What the hell, Cas?"

The angel just stares at him, unblinking as usual. Dean swallows and steels himself.

"I thought I told you to stay gone."

"I'm not here for you."

He doesn't know what his face is doing, but whatever it is, it's not under control like it's supposed to be. Whatever he was expecting Cas to say, it wasn't that. He should've known, though. Should've known Cas would be the same soldier of Heaven he's always been. One disaster of a hunter ain't gonna change that.

"Well, looks like you've got it covered. C'mon Sammy."

He hears Sam sputtering at the same time Cas' voice gets to him.

"Dean."

And fuck, he shouldn't be allowed to do that anymore. Dean stops, but doesn't turn around.

"Your help would be...useful to me."

"Yeah? Well, tough luck, Cas. We're not your lackeys."

.................................................................................................

Cas doesn't get a chance to respond before the other angel shows up and throws hirself at him. They grapple for a bit before crashing through the window and onto the car beneath it. Dean barely gets to the window before the other angel is gone and Cas has flown back into the room.

"Ze's gone."

Sam feels like he's about to explode with annoyed confusion.

"Who was ze? Why are random angels coming for you, Cas?"

Cas sighs, like suddenly he's actually feeling every second of his angelically long lifespan. He starts to explain the Heaven situation and while Sam's pretty sure the last thing Dean wants to do is stick around, he stays put as Cas tells them everything that's been going on with Raphael, including him apparently wanting to get the fucking apocalypse back on track. Sam looks from Dean to Cas and back again. His brother looks just as surprised as he is. Good God these two need to learn how to communicate. Dean looks like a lost puppy mixed with an angry bear and Cas seems to have reverted almost completely to the soldier he was when they first met him. He sighs, wanting to offer help but knowing he'd be asking for a fight if he offered it with Dean standing right next to him. So he stays quiet as Cas finishes his explanation and miraculously manages not to smack his brother upside the head when he responds to his soulmate's story by saying,

"Sounds like you got a lot goin' on. Better get back to it."

Then he turns around and walks out of the room without a word because apparently that's how fucking bad it got while Sam was in Hell (which he still doesn't remember, by the way). He watches Dean leave before he turns back to Cas but before he even gets one word out the sound of angel wings announces that Cas is taking Dean's advice. 

Great. There's chaos in Heaven itself and his brother's having relationship problems. With the only angel they know is on their side. Or at least the only angel on their side who God thought was worth resurrecting. Sam seems to have gotten a soulmate as unworthy as he's always felt. Or maybe Cas is just something extra special. He'll never know. He'll just wish quietly that Gabriel was still here. He doesn't even think that they were like Dean and Cas or anything, but they were something. He'd always liked believing in soulmates, and finding out that his own had made him live through his brother's death over a hundred times had been...disillusioning to say the least. And he'd felt little more than used the first three times he'd come into contact with Gabriel. It wasn't like he was just giving the guy a pass on all that shit, but, in the end, he'd fought for them, he'd DIED for them, right after he'd told Sam something that he'd always known but never admitted to himself.

You can only run for so long.

It echoes in his head, just like the image of Gabriel's golden eyes that he sees every time he closes his, just like the feeling of Gabriel's lips against his own that he can't quite forget. He's not even sure why he kissed him; he was just there and beautiful and actually fighting for something for fucking once. And maybe something in Sam knew that this was the only chance he was ever going to get.

Now the memory just haunts him like all the others. But it's just a memory; nothing can fix it. The same can't be said for the disaster that is Dean and Cas right now. They're both still very much alive, and very much in love unless Sam has come back to a bizarre alternate universe where nothing important is the same. They just need to get their shit together. But, knowing them, they'll need a lot of help. Sam is grimly aware he'll probably be the one providing it. He sighs as he makes his way back to the car, wondering vaguely if anything in their lives will ever be easy.


End file.
